A few reminders for those who think President Obama simply caved in because he wanted to/is a Republican/new complaint of the day...
I doubt that we will [hold a vote], and let me tell you why. The Senate has refused to move forward on that issue. As you know, we have some 400 bills pending in the Senate, 75 percent of which have gotten 50 Republican votes or more, but they can’t move through the Senate, so it would be an specious act. - Steny Hoyer, Fox News interview with Chris Wallace
AMANPOUR: Would you take this to a vote before the election?
PELOSI: It would be my hope. But let me just say, on The [American Reinvestment and] Recovery Act, nearly $300 billion of The Recovery Act were tax cuts for the middle class. Most people don’t realize that. - Nancy Pelosi, ABC interview with Christine Amanpour
[Question by a reporter during a Pelosi press conference:] The Senate has decided to postpone a vote on the issue of middle class tax cuts and what to do about the expiring Bush tax cuts. Will the House vote before the election on those issues?
Speaker Pelosi: Well, we will retain the right to proceed as we choose. We take it one day at a time. But let me be very clear, as we have all been clear in the House Democratic leadership: America’s middle class will have a tax cut. It will be done in this Congress. There is no question about that. - Speaker Pelosi press conference
"Democrats believe we must permanently extend tax cuts for the middle-class before they expire at the end of the year, and we will," Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Reid said in an email. "Unfortunately, to this point we have received no cooperation from Republicans to do so." - From a September 24, 2010 Reuters story explaining why Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would not schedule a vote on the tax cuts before the 2010 mid-term elections.
Rather than hammering the Republicans on this issue leading into the elections, as the White House and President Obama wanted, Congressional Democratic leadership, across the board, punted on the issue. They came up with various excuses and reasons not to do so. And in doing so weakened their position.
We all knew that the GOP was likely to take the House come election time. And that once that happened, we wouldn't see a single decent bill to help average Americans come out of the House. Does anyone think that Boehner and Cantor would extend unemployment benefits? Extend working-class tax credits? And we damn sure know they'd extend upper-class tax cuts in any bill.
So when the Congressional Democrats bailed on the President's request to vote on these taxes prior to the election, they tied his hands. Because once the election took place, the clock started ticking. And every second off that clock played to the GOP's advantage.
See, the GOP doesn't give a damn who gets hurt by their policies. They think unemployment benefits INCREASE unemployment. And it wouldn't bother them in the least to see the tax rates go up on January 1. Because the press would report that it was the President and Democrats that did it. And then once they took control, they could present bill after bill making those upper-tier cuts permanent while letting unemployment benefits dry up.
Once Congressional Democrats punted on the vote, they gave the advantage in negotiations to the Republicans. Which is why the White House wanted the vote before the election.
But now it seems it is just easier to call President Obama a sellout. That he's a failure. A Republican. That he should be primaried. In my opinion, that's weak sauce.
You don't like this compromise? Well, before you go blaming the President, remember who sent him into this gun fight with a knife. Remember how that 60-vote majority in the Senate didn't mean a damn thing because the Republicans always voted in a bloc and four or five Democrats were always willing to sell out. Remember that Progressive Hero Bernie Sanders helped kill funding the closing of Gitmo. Remember that Nelson killed the Medicare buy-in plan for health-care reform.
The President isn't perfect. No man is. But it sure is hard to get a liberal agenda passed when your own party cuts you off at the knees.